Bank customers wanting to make international transactions are being asked to sign a waiver to allow their personal details and financial records to be scanned by US anti-terror investigators.
The waivers put customers in the same Catch-22 European data protection officials found themselves in after it emerged that the US had …

It's also US Domestic Spying

The US has a law, "the right to financial privacy act", one of a raft of privacy laws introduced after Nixon's escapades.

"(a) Release of records by financial institutions prohibited

No financial institution, or officer, employees, or agent of a financial institution, may provide to any Government authority access to or copies of, or the information contained in, the financial records of any customer except in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. "

2. That they didn't need to receive a subpoena because they are not a financial institution.

1. The right to financial privacy act requires an individual subpoena. and a copy of the subpoena be sent to the person whose records are being sought. If they don't file a motion to quash with 10 days their records can be taken.

Yet this was not complied with, the subpoena was not specific and searches were done freely and without delay. The executive admitted this:

"Among the safeguards, government officials said, is an outside auditing firm that verifies that the data searches are based on intelligence leads about suspected terrorists. "We are not on a fishing expedition," Mr. Levey said. "We're not just turning on a vacuum cleaner and sucking in all the information that we can.""

Essentially they were given direct access to SWIFT's database without individual warrant. SWIFT also confirms this themselves on their site:

"How does SWIFT audit the US Treasury’s access to data?

SWIFT cares deeply about the privacy of its data, including its subpoenaed data. It has obtained substantial audit mechanisms which provide extremely high assurance that access to the data is limited exclusively to ongoing terrorism investigations. SWIFT has internal auditors on site who review every query. External auditors are also commissioned to provide additional assurance that all the protections and conditions are fully adhered to."

2. They are *agents* of financial institutions and specifically mentioned by this law.